Iranian Film Director says Election Was 'Coup d'Etat

Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf describes the declared victory
of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran's recent presidential
elections as a "coup d'etat."

Makhmalbaf
says the present situation in Iran is not the result of voting
irregularities, but a true and proper "coup d'etat."

Addressing
the foreign media in Rome, the man who has become the official
spokesman abroad for Mir Hossein Mousavi, spoke out strongly about the
situation in Iran following the presidential election.

No peace

Makhmalbaf
says opposition candidate Mousavi was preparing his victory speech when
military commanders came to tell him he could not be the winner. He
adds that the people of Iran do not want to be ruled by Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad for the next four years and there will be no peace in Iran
if he is the leader.

Makhmalbaf spoke of the slogans called out
by the people in Iran, saying they do not want the atomic bomb, but
democracy. The people, he says, feel they have been robbed of their
vote and that Mr. Ahmadinejad is not their president. He says they
shout out that they do not want a dictatorship, but a free society.

Loss of freedom

Makhmalbaf
says the Iranian people do not want Mr. Ahmadinejad because he has used
oil revenues to finance Hezbollah and its war in Lebanon, and nuclear
weapons. He says Iranians feel they have lost their freedom and Iran's
image has been ruined in the world.

Meanwhile, Italian Foreign
Minister Franco Frattini says he considers Iran's invitation to the
Group of Eight foreign ministers meeting later this week in Trieste to
have been declined because no answer was received by Monday.

Italy's
top diplomat also strongly condemned the violence and aggression
against peaceful demonstrators and called for a serious review of the
presidential vote.

The Italian government has instructed its
embassy in Iran to provide humanitarian assistance to protesters
wounded during the clashes, pending an EU vote on a proposal to
coordinate assistance.